Whatever

"Whatever" upon waking.

"Oh well" upon going to sleep.

This is how the lovely writer and speaker extraordinaire Annie Lamott describes her daily mantras.

But, as we know, she meant something more profound. She is certainly not cavalier about her day, her work, her life.

Here's what I think she meant:

We do the best we can. Every day.

We plan.

We show up.

We consider.

We try to be better.

We choose.

We move on.

Sometimes it works out well. And sometimes our efforts are not successful.

We are reminded to let go of attachment to the results. All we can do is our best.

Some things are outside of our control. Things have an energy of their own.

The point is to show up fully and give it our all, and then let go of attachment to the outcome.

Its what the Buddhists call 'metta' or approximately, 'good will'.

The mantra of 'whatever' and 'oh well' is code for we are doing our best, without aversion or attachment or suffering; with the intention to be kind to all beings, to spread good will to all beings, and to remember to include ourselves!

What do you think?